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Training, History

A Final Polish

After maneuvers the men came back to Shelby, scraped off the mud, and began again the endless task of cleaning up their equipment. The Combat Team was commended for proficiency by Major General Charles H. White, Commanding General of IX Corps, and Major General Charles L. Bolte, Commanding General of the 69th Division. The entire Combat Team now began the business of brushing up on its small-unit tactics, reviewing and correcting the weaknesses that had turned up during the last hectic weeks in the field. Twenty officers and 210 men left for George G. Meade, Maryland, for transhipment to Italy and the 100th Battalion. There was also a certain amount of combat firing and review work on marksmanship to be completed, as well as some...

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Training, History

Combined Units

The regimental commander, Colonel Pence, took his regiment into the field as a unit for the first time on December 13, holding exercises that ran until the day before Christmas. Training was getting into higher levels now. Battalion staffs learned to work with the regimental staff. Battalions attacked or took defensive positions side by side, coordinating their fires, helping each other out of tough spots, keeping contact in heavily wooded terrain. Tactics were going into high levels, but the privates in the rear rank, the guys who carried the rifles and brought up the ammunition, still wanted to know why. Why did the regimental commander do this? Why did we withdraw to this position instead of another one? The officers and the NCO’s did their...

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Training, History

From Civilian to Soldier

Basic training was hectic for these new soldiers, as it is for every new soldier. Heads buzzed with military courtesy and discipline, close order drill, manual of arms, and the nomenclature and functioning of all the weapons that make the present day infantryman a walking arsenal. Slowly they learned to hit the ground, to take advantage of every fold in the earth, and every bush for cover and concealment, to work as squads and sections. Muscles hardened, backs straighten, and civilians became men who lived war and thought war. Relations with civilians and other soldiers were not always easy. Most of the men on the post and the inhabitants of the nearby towns accepted the Nisei for what they were and for the job they...

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Training, History

Maneuvers

“D” Series maneuvers began on January 28, 1944, in the DeSoto National Forest, Mississippi. They were conducted by the 69th Infantry Division, Major General Charles L. Bolte commanding. The 442nd Infantry and the 232nd Engineers were attached to the Division for operations, working as a part of the Division for the first three problems and being the “red” or enemy force for the last three. The men probably learned more as a unit of the Division but they had a lot more fun being the enemy. Maneuvers being what they are, there were always a certain number of snafus. The umpires were the unhappiest people on the field no matter who won or lost the battle. There were not enough umpires to mark the simulated...

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Training, History

Operating as a Unit

Basic training was over; now began the even harder task of welding the Combat Team into a single fighting unit. The men knew their weapons; they knew how to take advantage of cover; they could find their way long distances on the blackest night; They had worked together as squads on small problems. It remained to make platoons out of squads, companies out of platoons, and battalions out of companies. During basic the GIs finished their training and came back to a hot shower, a hot meal, and a warm if not always comfortable bed. Unit training would wean them away from this, and enable them to live in the field for long periods, to endure cold, rain, inadequate blankets, to keep going even if...

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Training, History

The Cadre Prepare

On January 22, 1945, the War Department directed by a letter that a Japanese-American Combat Team should be activated on February 1, and should be composed of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion and the 232nd Engineer Combat Company. In accordance with these orders the 442nd Combat Team was activated on February 1, 1943 by General Orders, Headquarters Third Army. Colonel Charles W. Pence took command, with Lieutenant Colonel Merritt B. Booth as executive officer. Lieutenant Colonel Keith K. Tatum commanded the 1st Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel James M. Hanley the 2nd Battalion and Lieutenant Colonel Sherwood Dixon the 3rd Battalion. Lieutenant Colonel Baya M. Harrison commanded the 522nd Field Artillery, and Captain Pershing Nakada commanded the 232nd Engineers. From the 1st to...

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Training, History

Gen Emmons Calls for Volunteers for the 442nd

442nd RCT volunteers in Aiea, April 2, 1943 After the attack on Pearl Harbor, our families in Hawai’i and the Mainland experienced arrests and internment; the classification of Japanese-American citizens as “enemy aliens” for military draft status; and many other prejudiced and unjustified actions and conditions.  On January 28, 1943, however, Lt. General Delos C. Emmons, military governor of Hawai’i, made the following announcement locally on behalf of the War Department: “Once in a great while an opportunity presents itself to recognize an entire section of this community for their performance of duty.  All of the people of the Hawaiian Islands have contributed generously to our war effort.  Among these have been the Americans of Japanese descent.  Their role has not been an easy one.”...

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